{PRESS RELEASE from Bearcage Productions}
Bearcage Productions has collaborated with the National Portrait Gallery to produce over 60 “mini-documentaries” of the latest additions to the collection which are available through multiple platforms including i-pod touch devices, the Gallery’s website and, soon, Foxtel.
Michael Tear, Managing Director of Bearcage, says that the documentaries add depth and insight to the portraits for a broader range of audiences.
“National Portrait Gallery visitors can see and hear about the artists and their subjects through the i-pod touch devices, at their own pace. Online browsers can access the documentaries through the website www.portrait.gov.au, and the broader public will have the opportunity to learn more about these works through ‘Framed’, a Foxtel documentary which will be aired in April 2009.
“This exciting project shows how high quality content can be broadcast across a variety of platforms to reach new audiences,” said Tear. “This approach will become increasingly more common as agencies utilise the enormous possibilities of new media channels”.
The National Portrait Gallery commissioned Bearcage to present stories of Australians to other Australians and enhance visitors’ experience through video and audio. Bearcage developed the “min-documentary” approach involving the subjects and artists themselves, instead of the standard “guide to the artwork” voiced by a third party.
Gill Raymond, the Gallery’s Online Manager, says that “The documentaries include interviews, archival material sourced from institutions around Australia and the world, animations and music. These combine to enhance our visitor’s experience of our collection and their understanding of the stories of the subjects”.
Bearcage Productions, based in Canberra, is an Australian creative media company which reaches, engages and inspires audiences through memorable media experiences. It is one of the largest and most successful media companies in Australia, having received over fifty national and international awards for its creative digital, television and advertising projects for government and corporate clients.